Chris DeSantis Coaching
The Blog

Notes on mindset, coaching, and the craft of sport.

Essays on Positive Psychology, talent development, and what it really takes to perform at your best.

Mindset

How to Do Private Lessons For Year Round Swimmers

Coaching in Denmark was at times the most stressful but also the most fruitful thing I have done in swimming. One experience...

December 7, 2017 · 3 min read
Mindset

Swimming Myths: Holiday Training and “Mental Toughness”

The holidays are approaching, and all across the country coaches are getting excited. Not for presents underneath the tree, mind you, but...

December 4, 2017 · 4 min read
Mindset

Four Ways Individualized Coaching Can Work on A Team

The predominate model in swimming team swimming. Although some swimmers receive individual instruction, especially at the higher levels, most athletes train on...

December 1, 2017 · 3 min read
Mindset

Why This Blog Exists

Why am I doing this? It's a question you should ask often when you repeat activities over and over again. Habits can...

November 21, 2017 · 2 min read
Mindset

The Line Between Humility and Modesty

I have to admit, that as of a few weeks ago, I didn't really understand what humility and modesty really meant. I...

November 21, 2017 · 2 min read
Mindset

Talent: For When We Can’t Explain

Talent. it's a word that we somehow cannot escape in sports. People define and use it a lot of different ways. It's...

November 15, 2017 · 1 min read
Mindset

Talent: For When We Can’t Explain

Talent. it's a word that we somehow cannot escape in sports. People define and use it a lot of different ways. It's...

November 15, 2017 · 1 min read
Mindset

It’s Time To Reconsider Diana Nyad and Jack Nelson

Diana Nyad says that she was sexually assaulted by her swim coach, Jack Nelson, starting in 1964.  Most recently to the New York Times,...

November 14, 2017 · 2 min read
Mindset

It’s Time To Reconsider Diana Nyad and Jack Nelson

Diana Nyad says that she was sexually assaulted by her swim coach, Jack Nelson, starting in 1964.  Most recently to the New York Times,...

November 14, 2017 · 2 min read
Mindset

The Failure of Self-Esteem and Other Movements

I was raised in the hey-day of the self-esteem movement. Or at least it seemed like it. When I was young, I...

November 13, 2017 · 2 min read
Mindset

The Failure of Self-Esteem and Other Movements

I was raised in the hey-day of the self-esteem movement. Or at least it seemed like it. When I was young, I...

November 13, 2017 · 2 min read
Mindset

The Selflessness Switch

The question was "How do people with jobs that require pessimism: lawyers, firemen, policemen, turn that switch off in the rest of...

November 9, 2017 · 2 min read